HICKORY, N.C. – After dropping the first two sets, the Anderson volleyball team battled back and very nearly sent the match to a fifth and deciding set, but wrapped up the regular season with a hard-fought loss to Lenoir-Rhyne, 21-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-27, Wednesday night at Shuford Memorial Gym.

Anderson (20-6, 13-5 SAC) suffered its second setback in as many days, while Lenoir-Rhyne (17-8, 12-5 SAC) won its third consecutive outing and claimed its third straight win over the Trojans.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Junior right-side hitter Rylie Sargent posted a match-high 15 kills on an impressive .355 hitting percentage, while adding four digs and two block assists. Senior outside hitter Liliana Kinder tallied a dozen kills, with senior middle blocker Noelle Knutsen notching 11 kills behind a .348 attacking percentage and coming up with three block assists. Junior Jaelyn Grimm recorded 10 kills on the strength of an identical .348 hitting accuracy, while adding a pair of assists, four digs, a solo block, a service ace and a block assist. Junior outside hitter Meg Sansbury notched nine kills and five digs, while senior Lindsay McCurley recorded 13 digs and five assists.

Sophomore Savannah Cox posted her first career double-double with a career-best 46 assists and 11 digs, while chipping in a pair of block assists. Sophomore Hannah Neff recorded 10 digs on the night.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
Lenoir-Rhyne used a blazing .714 hitting percentage to jump out to an early 8-4 lead before the Trojans answered with a 4-1 run of their own behind a pair of kills from Kinder to trim the Bears' lead to just 9-8.

The Bears countered with three unanswered points and their lead hovered between four and five points until – with AU trailing, 20-15 - the Trojans rattled off four consecutive points to again close within just one. LR then posted two straight points and held off the Trojans down the stretch.

Second Set
After not leading at all in the opening set, the Trojans - behind a pair of kills from Sansbury and an overall .667 hitting percentage - opened up an early 6-2 advantage.

But the Bears countered with an 11-2 outburst on the strength of a .357 hitting percentage and again took a lead they would not relinquish. LR steadily built a 19-12 lead on the strength of a .478 hitting accuracy and the Trojans were unable to rally. But after falling behind by as many as eight points, the Trojans cut the deficit to six and eventually got as close as five, as they held off set point three times, but were unable to get any closer down the stretch.

Third Set
With Knutsen and Sargent combining for nine kills, the Trojans finally came to life in the third set - bouncing back to take the five-point win.

With the score deadlocked at five apiece, Knutsen sparked a 5-1 run that gave the Trojans a 10-6 advantage and from there AU maintained at least a two- point advantage the rest of the way, while leading by as many as five during the latter stages of the set.

Fourth Set
Behind a sizzling .455 hitting percentage, the Bears jumped out to a quick 9-5 lead in the fourth set to force an AU timeout. Coming out of the break the Trojans scored five unanswered points and were hitting .353 at that point, with Kinder and Grimm fueling a 9-2 run that gave AU a 14–11 lead.

With the Trojans holding a two-point edge moments later, it was then Knutson's turn, as the Colorado native posted a pair of kills to help the Trojans maintain the advantage.

With the Bears staying within striking distance, they eventually knotted the score at 18 apiece before Kinder's seventh kill of the night gave AU a brief 19-18 lead. The score was tied again two more times before Grimm knocked down her 10th kill and Sansbury's eighth gave AU a 22-20 edge and forced a Lenoir-Rhyne time out. A kill by Sergeant gave AU a 23-20 lead but the Bears countered with three straight points to deadlock the score at for the eighth time, at 23-23 and they reached match point with their fourth straight point before AU evened the score again at 24 apiece on an LR error.

The Bears again claimed the lead, with Sansbury answering for AU to even the score at 25-25, but LR took advantage of an AU error and closed out the match with a kill.

NOTABLES
• For the second straight outing, Savannah Cox set a career-high in assists and has averaged 9.9 assists per set over the past two contests, while recording her first career double-double against the Bears.
• Rylie Sargent has posted double-figure kills in back-to-back matches and has averaged 13 kills per match over the past five matches.
• Noelle Knutsen has reached double-digit kills in seven straight matches, while averaging 13.6 kills per match over those seven outings.
• The Trojans have won 11 of their last 14 contests.
• Lenoir-Rhyne has won five of its last six decisions after opening the month of October by losing three straight outings.
• The Bears earned their eighth win of the season at Shuford Memorial Gym.
• The Trojans have won nine of the last 12 matchups with LR, but have dropped three straight to the Bears after Lenoir-Rhyne handed AU its only home loss of the season back in mid-September.
• The Trojans have lost back-to-back matches for the first time since falling to Texas A&M-Kingsville and No. 1 Angelo State in early September, 2021.

UP NEXT
AU has clinched at least the No. 3 seed in next week's South Atlantic Conference Championship, but the Trojans will need help if they are going to host a SAC Tournament Quarterfinal match, Monday night at the Abney Athletic Center.

If LR knocks off Newberry, Saturday afternoon, the Bears will earn the Piedmont Division's No. 2 seed and will play host to Tusculum in a quarterfinal matchup, with AU traveling to Mars Hill, Monday night.

If Newberry earns the road win, AU will host the quarterfinal match against Tusculum, Monday night at the Abney Athletic Center. First-serve would be at 7 p.m.